


Welcome To Afterlife

by TonksieFea



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Afterlife Colony (Marvel), Alternate Universe, F/M, Inhumans (Marvel)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-26
Updated: 2017-03-20
Packaged: 2018-10-08 10:58:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10385115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TonksieFea/pseuds/TonksieFea
Summary: Specialist Melinda May is on a mission to track down and rescue a lost SHIELD team that was investigating a tribe of possible Powered People in the forests of China. She works alone, she's always been alone. Its better that way. Phil Coulson was raised in a home that admired and respected their Inhuman ancestors. At 20 he was given his birthright and became one of the healers for new Inhumans in Afterlife. When Specialist May gets put in Phil Coulson's care this change for both of them.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! This is a new series type thing. It's my Inhumans verse. This isn't plotted or mapped or anything like that. This will essentially be a prompt verse so if you have any prompts send them to @TonksieFea on tumblr. I'll probably try to write on it when I have ideas for things. Thanks as always to the beautiful perfect Stef aka Tessdebelle who betas my stuff I love her! This Chapter is mostly fluff with some angst for good measure. Enjoy!

_ Day One _

Waking up that first night was torture. All Melinda could see around her was complete darkness. At first, she assumed she was blind. There was no light, no forms, nothing. She felt fear start to take over and took a deep breath. She needed to relax. Compartmentalize and focus on the problem at hand. She had to work through until she found a solution and then move to the next. Slowly, the darkness started to recede like water being drained from a fish tank. The blackness slowly moved down and let her see her surroundings. That didn’t help her calm down. The trees were all vivid, all the shadows between them doing nothing to obscure her vision. It was a dark night with no moon and no stars but it looked like midday to her.

That was the moment she noticed how her body felt. She felt empty, like a cold mist was swirling in her. The air felt warm even though it was a winter night and she should be freezing. She felt nauseous and wrong. She felt like she would take off flying at any moment and if she’d had anything in her stomach it would not be in there much longer. Her heart beat felt too fast but she couldn’t slow it down. It felt like the speed was normal now.

Every day since the night she’d first felt the husk take her, she had been running. She’d been fighting sleep. When she slept, she would wake up to demons that had taken her over, trying to choke the life from her. All of her guilt and her worst memories would haunt her in new, more inventive ways when she slept. Now she lived her life avoiding sleep so she could stay alive and more importantly protect others from the evil possessing her. She had never believed in curses before, they were just old Chinese fairy tales her mother told her to keep her in line. Now she did. Now she was cursed, and it was tearing her apart.

* * *

The last thing she remembered was that one of the men hunting her had found her. He trapped her in a room with white walls and no shadows to save her. She couldn’t move, couldn’t leave. Melinda’s eyes burned her as she prepared herself to fight but the light was making it hard to see as her eyes blurred from the white of the room. She was ready to take him out when a flash of lightning surrounded her and knocked her out.

Her eyes opened to a blurry face. A very bright blurry face. She hissed at the pain all over her body that centered most strongly in her eyes and head. “What did you do to me?” she growled through a sandpaper tongue as she blinked the face into focus. He was handsome. Bright blue eyes and dark hair. He was literally lighting up the night but unlike the sun or a bright light it didn’t burn her eyes or force her to squint or turn away. She tried to move to look around but couldn’t couldn’t. Needles were sticking out of her and she tensed, trying to get her body back. She fought the familiar panic trying to assess the best way to get out of this when the man smiled sweetly. He didn’t look like he was trying to kill her but she knew better than to trust appearances.

“Calm down, it’s okay.” He said petting her hair gently. He was so warm and soothing. Her body relaxed without her express permission. _ ‘60 beats per minute. Don’t let it out’ _ she chanted to herself mentally calming down. “You’re on a healing table. The needles will keep you paralyzed until your body can heal. You had a lot of time without treatment so there’s a lot of damage.” he explained gently. “Though you were only out for one day which is impressive.” He said almost sounding admiring like she'd managed something spectacular. She didn’t feel particularly spectacular though.

“Where am I?” She growled threateningly trying to make a plan of escape. She had to get out. She couldn’t stop for too long. Either the men would hunt her down or SHIELD would find her and she knew how people like her were treated. She wouldn’t mind indexing but she doubted they would just let her live a normal life or continue as a SHIELD agent when she could barely control her curse. Besides there was nothing to go back to now. She’d never had a team and they probably assumed she died anyway. They had for the rest of the poor SHIELD team she’d been supposed to rescue. They were now chunks of rock on the forest floor.

Phil smiled warmly at her. “This is Afterlife. Don’t worry, you’re safe.” he assured, pulling over a chair hoping that not towering over her would help her accept the situation.

“So I’m dead?” She asked simply. Well that was a bit of a relief. “This isn’t how I imagined hell but it’ll do.” She added. She supposed hell made sense. 

He laughed “No! Not dead. It has to do with rebirth and the real name is Chinese, I can’t pronounce it.” He admitted. “We do need to get your body adjusted to your new state though! And we need to find out your gift.” He said smirking “It’ll be fun!” He promised. She didn’t have a gift but she knew exactly what her curse was. 

Melinda turned her face away from him. “I don’t think I am what you think I am.” She said simply.

Phil smirked “I think we both know exactly what you are. Once I have you healed you can choose whether you accept that or not. For now, I’m going to let the needles do their work and maybe get you something to eat for when we take them out, okay?” He asked brightly standing up and walking away.

 

_ Day Three _

The needles had been removed from Melinda shortly after she’d woken up. They hadn’t let her leave the room yet. Day two some random person had delivered her food and stared at her meditating for a few hours before leaving her alone. She figured they also had surveillance cameras on her or something but she was intent on ignoring her curse hoping that in time it’d disappear.

The sun was too bright and hot after what she’d been through, so she started trying to sleep during the day and stay awake at night but really sleeping at all was hard for her. Especially when she was trying to hide her curse. She has spent too many nights waking up to a shadow choking her. She couldn’t deal with that risk. Besides, the day long nap they had given her helped, she almost wasn’t exhausted anymore.

“I heard you didn’t behave very well while I was gone.” Phil teased walking in the door with some sort of to go food container in his hands.

“What do you mean?” Melinda asked honestly confused but oddly glad to see him back.

He smirked and sat down across from her at the tiny table. “You didn’t say a single thing to the person who came in yesterday.” He explained pointedly. 

Melinda raised her eyebrows and shrugged. “He didn’t say anything to me either.” She pointed out taking a small bite of the salad. “And I did say thank you.” She added munching.

“Two words? That’s it? He said you kept glaring at him!” He teased shaking his head. He knew this would get them no where, she was terribly stubborn but she talked to him. He didn’t exactly know why she talked to him but he was grateful she did. He was starting to really enjoy that she did talk to him. So far she was interesting. A puzzle, and he loved puzzles. “Ready to tell us what your gift is yet?” He asked smirking eating his soup with her.

Melinda shook her head with a straight face and eyebrows raised. “I don’t have a gift. I’ve told you that.” She said simply. She intended to insist she had no gifts until they let it go or until she lost them, one of the two. It wasn’t a lie either. She didn’t have a gift. She had a curse.

“Everyone who has survived the mist has a gift.” he insisted smirking. “I’m positive that your must be pretty spectacular and keeping it inside could really cause a lot of damage. You need to stop fighting it Melinda.” he insisted and started fully checking her over. 

“There’s a first for everything.” She countered stubbornly but let him check her over and take her vitals. He didn’t understand why she was being so frustrating! Not even just about not showing her gift! He wouldn’t mind so much if he was sure she wasn’t hurting herself to keep it in but he could tell she wasn’t sleeping. “What makes you think it will be great anyway? I could end up being a monster.” She pointed out.

“You won’t be a monster I’m sure of that. The only thing monstrous about you is how stubborn you are!” He insisted. She was insanely stubborn. “Speaking of, I can heal a lot of things with my gift but lack of sleep isn’t one of them. If you don’t sleep soon I’m going to have to use the needles again.” He explained. It wasn’t a threat, more like a warning label. ‘Caution contents may be hot.’ ‘Caution you hurt yourself I’m going to fix it.’ He wanted her healthy even if she didn’t want to be.

She rolled her eyes. “Yes Doctor.” She groaned with a hint of petulence. She was cute when he was annoying her.

“Good. And maybe if you behave you’ll get a treat.” He joked smirking at her. As soon as he said it his mind started thinking of possible things he could get her to lift her spirits. He had no idea how that sounded.

Melinda got a mischievous look and slowly raked her eyes over him. “I like treats. Are you the one giving them?” She flirted, the innuendo was clear. It was more to throw him off than anything. He was cute-- sexy really if she were honest, and she would absolutely take a ‘treat’ from him. It was a terrible idea though and if she had any intention of getting out of here and getting rid of this curse she couldn’t get attached to him.

Phil’s face went bright red and he sputtered a bit shocked by her forwardness and then huffed. “You just love messing with me don’t you?” he insisted firmly and she chuckled at him nodding. “Well fine then. Just for that I rescind my offer for teats. And they were going to be really good treats too! I was even thinking ice cream.” he pouted.

She smirked at him and shook her head. “That’s quite a loss.” She said sarcastically and just a little amused. God he was cute when he was flustered. She’d have to do that to him so much more often.

He nodded firmly. “It really is. Who doesn’t like ice cream?!” He flailed.  “Now if you want them you have to earn them back! In fact, if you haven’t slept in tomorrow I’m going to--” He thought for a moment and smirked “I’m going to slip you sleeping meds and Bongo and take pictures.” He threatened. He could picture it now. She would be adorable like that.

Melinda raised her eyebrows looking completely incredulous. “Bongo?” she asked flatly.

“Yep, he’s my stuffed kangaroo.” He said brightly. Everything about that sentence made her burst out laughing. He was so adorable, how did this man even exist? Not to mention he literally glowed in the dark. What was that?

“Of course he is.” She muttered under her breath and calmed down “I’ll try to sleep.” She assured shaking her head still chuckling slightly. She had a cute laugh. He really liked when she laughed and when she smiled. It was rare. It was another piece of that puzzle. “So are you going to send in the silent babysitter again when I finish lunch? I’m sure you have better things to do.” she said poking at the last leafs of her salad.  
Phil smirked and shook his head. “Nope, you’re stuck with me for the rest of the day. I thought we’d play board games. I have boggle!” he said brightly.

Melinda smiled genuinely for the first time in what felt like too long and shook her head. “You’re on.” She said utterly amused and enchanted, not that she’d let him see that. If he was honest with himself he didn’t want to leave her. Which could end very badly.

 

_ Day Eight _

Melinda actually felt good today. She’d slept most of the night and hadn’t woken to a shadow trying to choke her or the now familiar feeling of overwhelming guilt. She was pretty sure Phil had slipped her sleeping pills without her knowing, she’d never thank him for it but it was a nice day. It was a rare blessing to wake up without fear or guilt. She was up doing Tai Chi when Phil stormed in. He did not seem nearly as happy with his day.

Phil tossed her lunch on the tiny table and huffed. “How have you officially scared away every healer in Afterlife except me?!” He asked incredulous and annoyed. She smirked at that. She liked him annoyed. He was cute when annoyed. 

Melinda smiled just slightly moving through her motions. She stayed silent concentrating on breathing and keeping her heart rate down. She knew if she looked at him she’d probably break out laughing with how annoyed he looked. She’d seen his annoyed face when she kicked his ass in whatever board game they played, it was a daily thing for her. It was the same face she’d gotten when talking him out of Monopoly because that was a  _ bad  _ idea. It had ended as a good day though. They had shared stories about their lives, not big ones just little ones. He talked about his dad and the car they’d worked on. She’d told him about her ex husband and how annoying it was being married to a shrink.

“Seriously Melinda, it’s like you’ve gone out of your way to make it impossible for us to find someone that likes you that isn’t me!” He insisted. “At this rate we’ll never find a guide for you! Without a guide how will you learn to use your gift, huh? Insane stubbornness?” He ranted.

At that she did pop open an eye and look to him. “I told you, I don’t have a gift! I don’t need a guide and the sooner you believe me the sooner we can move on.” She pointed out simply and moved through the last motions ending her routine. 

“Of course you have a gift Melinda.” He huffed exasperated by her. “I can see the affects on your body! Holding it back is hurting you!” He said frustrated “You get no sleep and push yourself too hard and you nearly overheated yesterday!” He growled

“It was a hot day yesterday.” she shrugged.

“It was Eighty Two degrees fahrenheit yesterday and in this room it was seventy two. For me that’s freezing! To an  _ average _ human that’s at least cool!” He pointed out nearly as stubbornly as she usually was. “If you didn’t run so cold all the time I would think that your gift was just to be extremely frustrating and scare everyone to death!” He ranted some more running a hand through his short thinning hair.

Melinda scoffed “You’re right. That’s it. I’m the boogey man.” she said flatly. “Boo.” She added just for effect. His face was red and he was so upset and God he looked cute like that. All frustrated and flustered. 

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I get it. You’re afraid of your gift.” he said gently. “I was too when I first got mine.” He offered gently.

She quired a disbelieving brow at him. “You can heal people by touching them and glowing a little.” How could he be afraid of something like that. It wasn’t like hers. It wasn’t evil.

He smirked “That took time and training.” He walked towards her and sat in his normal chair. “And a guide.” He added pointedly at her smirking a bit. “When I first came out of terragenesis I had blinding light and I was so hot I burned anyone I touched.” he said honestly looking up at her.

She thought for a moment wondering how the soft hearted and gentle man she knew could deal with ever hurting anyone. He had a hot temper at times and she could see he wasn’t harmless, but she had trouble seeing him as anything imposing. “I’m sorry.” She said putting her hand on his arm gently and ignoring how hot it was. 

Normally his hands were pleasant but lately her body had been so warm it wasn’t nice to feel his heat but she needed to let him know she was there. She knew he didn’t care past being a healer but she had warmed to him since she met him, she trusted him. Trust was a rare commodity for her. Maybe it was the fact that he was so warm and seemed so honest and cared so deeply. He was her total opposite but he didn’t shy away from her.

He smirked “It’s ok. It was a long time ago at this point. I’ve worked to make up for that every day.” He added. “But hiding your gift won’t help you control it, it will just hurt you, like you’re doing right now!” He insisted wanting nothing more than to get her to accept who she was now. “Maybe not in front of me, but you can’t keep turning your gift in on yourself, it’s hurting you.” He insisted seriously. “And I hate seeing you hurt.” he added honestly. He was growing so close to her. How had it only been a week since she’d woken up? She frustrated the hell out of him but he felt balanced when he was around her. Maybe he was reading too much into it but it was like she reminded him where the ground was.

She smirked and nodded. “I’ll try.” She agreed and looked to her lunch in his arms. “Can we have lunch now?” She asked smirking just a slight tease.

Phil looked confused for a moment then realized he was still hoarding her lunch. He quickly pushed the bag over to her. “Sorry I forgot I’m your only source of food.” He paused and smirked remembering where the conversation had started. “Cause you chased off all the other ones. Is that why you keep me around? For my food?” He joked smirking. She wasn’t about to tell him that she got food from other people. They would leave breakfast and dinner at the door and a few days when he was running late they put down a lunch out too but she had ignored that, preferring to wait for him to bring it. He was the best part of her day. She wasn’t about to stop that.

Melinda shrugged smirking slightly “A girl’s gotta eat.” She said simply taking a bite of her cold soup. “I was thinking maybe we should play poker today. I bet you have a great poker face.” She smirked.

He laughed warmly. “You’re on! I’m going to rob you blind.” He challenged. He didn’t. They didn’t play for money. Even if they had she would have won by a landslide. She was tempted to play strip poker with him now, though.

 

_ Day Fourteen _

Phil was utterly drained today. The entire day he’d dealt with fighting off people who thought that Melinda should be punished for going through the mist ahead of schedule. It was a big hubbub outside and had been from the start, but today was particularly awful. Someone had informed one of the parents of Afterlife that his son, who had been slotted for the next round of mist, had been postponed until Melinda was cared for and integrated properly. He was glad Melinda was safe in her room, he didn’t want to think of what some people would do if they got their hands on her. He didn’t like thinking about her ever getting truly hurt. 

Talking to her every day was quickly becoming his favorite thing to do. He’d never connected with a patient quite this much, or worried about anyone quite this much. She was amazing. Incredibly strong, she could fight anything. She was also so horribly stubborn he wanted to beat his head against a wall sometimes but she was funny and could make him laugh like no one before ever could. 

He didn’t know exactly what her gift was or how she’d done it but at one point she’d managed to sneak out of her room, and come back a few moments later in the same spot. After they’d seen that on film, they still had no clue what her gift was, except maybe invisibility or teleportation, but she had been cooler the next day and that was all he cared about. It’d happened a few times since then and while she still wasn’t sleeping he was glad to have her at least not overheating anymore.

She was meditating in a shadowed part of her room when he walked in, something he’d noticed she liked doing. When that happened he would usually sit at the table and wait until she was finished and finally noticed him. So he set down the veggie burgers he’d gotten for them and waited. His eyes roamed over her face as she meditated. “I can feel you staring.” She murmured with minimum movement.

He blushed being caught without her even opening her eyes. How did she even do that? It should be impossible, but then they lived in impossible. Or maybe it was just that she was impossible. “Sorry. You’re interesting.” He said and looked down at the table. She let out a huff of a laugh and went back to it. He’d look up every once in awhile but tried not to stare like he had been. It mostly worked. 

Suddenly there was a huge thump against the wall of her room and a loud bang. Phil jumped up looking to her ready to defend her and she was gone. “Melinda?” He asked panicking. “Where are you? Melinda!” He shouted and she walked out of the shadows nearest him on the other side of the room from where she’d been. “Thank god!” He breathed and ran to her. “Are you alright?” He asked looking her over.

She nodded “I’m fine. What’s going on?” She asked pulling away from him. She was colder to the touch and he realised that was her power. So it  _ was  _ teleportation! She was amazing!

He shrugged. “I don’t know.” He admitted and they heard shouting from outside the room. 

“SHE JUMPED THE LINE AND BECAUSE OF HER MY SON LOST HIS BIRTHRIGHT!” A male voice screamed. Well that wasn’t good. “THAT SHOULD BE MY SON IN THERE NOT SOME OUTSIDER! SHE ISN’T ONE OF US! SHE DOESN’T RESPECT THE TRADITIONS OF THE LINEAGE!” the voice raged. “SHE’S A THREAT TO ALL OF US!” The voice sounded again and few other voices resounded with an agreeing “Yeah!”.

Flashes of her life flooded Melinda’s mind. Dark times: leaving Andrew, killing her first mark, seeing the SHIELD team she’d been sent to save, inhuman-shaped pieces of husk. So many terrible things, all the worst things she’d done. Then there was Bahrain. The little girl with powers she had killed. She’d had to stay strong after it. She had no shoulder to cry on. That little girl’s face had invaded her mind and taken her over even after she’d put her down. Andrew had tried but there was nothing he could do. There wasn’t anything left of Melinda to save.

Phil watched her panic not sure what to do. He wanted to go outside and tell everyone to shut the fuck up about the woman he’d spent the last few days with. He couldn’t just leave her to her mind and her demons though. He stepped closer but the shadows around her seemed to be moving. They were becoming solid, growing and pulsing like they were alive and waiting to devour her. The darkness from where a wall was blocking the sun turned into a pitch black ooze swirling around her. “Melinda?” He asked gently trying to pull her out of whatever was going on.

Melinda opened her eyes trying to calm her breathing and keep herself stable but it wasn’t working. Her heartbeat was skyrocketing and she had nothing to channel her emotions into. She couldn’t use them, there was no enemy to fight but herself. She was freezing, her teeth were literally chattering as all of her body’s energy left to create the shadows attacking her. 

Phil could feel the chill rolling off of Melinda and her shadows. It wasn’t that she could teleport, she could control the shadows, melt into them and move through them. She was his polar opposite. He was amazed and terrified watching the woman before him, someone who was usually so strong and tall, stand there so scared and alone and fragile. He didn’t know how to save her.

Out of the shadows stepped a figure. A small girl shape barely four foot tall with her hand reached out. Phil watched in horror as the figure walked towards Melinda and Melinda’s eyes went huge with recognition. 

Melinda was terrified and shaking watching Katya walk towards her. The shadows didn’t make a sound but they didn’t have to. She could still hear the little girl’s voice in her mind saying Melinda would be her new mother and that she wanted pain.  _ Pain. _ Melinda was now just like that little girl, she was a monster. She was a threat that needed to be taken out.

Both watched frozen in place as the small shadow child reached up and started to choke Melinda. She fell to her knees unable to fight her curse and her lips started to turn blue from the lack of oxygen and her body’s overuse of the curse she’d been pushing back so hard. This had been building and now that it was out it wasn’t letting her go. 

“Melinda!” Phil shouted once she was on the ground. On instinct his hand shot out a beam of blinding white light at the shadow girl, disintegrating her. He ran over to Melinda and fell to his knees in front of her and pulling her into his arms petting her hair gently. “Shh, It’s ok. You’re safe now. I’m here.” He said gently opening his hand not in her hair and letting a light shine in the shadows making them soothe back into their places. The moving looked less intimidating now, more like a dance around them and less like a pulsing predator. 

“I couldn’t save her. I couldn’t. It was her or us. I had to get them out. I couldn’t save her.” Melinda sobbed letting out all the guilt and pain she’d used just to keep functioning day by day for the past eight years.

Phil rubbed her back holding her. He didn’t understand a word she was saying, not really. He just knew he had to make it better so he said what he thought she needed to hear. “It’s okay. You need to let the girl go, Melinda.” He assured. “It’s time. Let the girl go.” He said gently into her hair. Holding her and rocking her. She was freezing but it felt good against his heated skin. They were hot and cold, light and shadow, perfect compliments to each other. His warmth stopped her shivering leaving only the silent tears and wracking sobs behind.

They sat there for minutes of silence, him holding her and rocking her. Her silently crying into his chest and desperately trying to calm down. He was almost certain she’d fallen asleep after a while. She was back to a normal temperature for her, which was pleasantly cool instead of an icy frozen like she had been when he’d first pulled her close. 

He was about to pull away to take her to the bed when she broke the silence. “They’re right. I shouldn’t be here.” She said simply. That made him tense. There was still yelling outside of her room but it was much quieter now. He’d honestly stopped noticing for awhile, too concentrated on her to notice anything else. 

The situation out there was being handled by guards and possibly Jiaying herself. Inside it was their own little world. Just the two of them.  The thought of her leaving that world shattered him. He’d only known her two weeks but he couldn’t imagine a day when he didn’t walk in and talk to her for hours. He hated the thought of her not being there to laugh at his history jokes and beat him at the boardgame of the day. 

“No they’re not.” He said firmly holding her tighter. “You do belong here. You are one of us. So you weren’t raised as one, you belong here.” He said firmly.

“I don’t belong anywhere, Phil.” She said pulling away from his arms to look him in the eyes. “You’ve seen what I can do! I can’t control it. I don’t want to control it. I want it gone. I want to be an agent again! I want my life back.” She said firmly. “I want to be in control of myself and not have this--- whatever it is inside of me making me a danger to anyone around me!” She nearly shouted. She hadn’t had anything or anyone to fight in weeks. She hadn’t had anything to put her emotions into and she was bubbling. “I’ve killed people, while I was sleeping! I’m so dangerous I can’t even sleep without hurting someone! That’s how I got here.” She pushed.

Phil let her yell at him his hands loose around her waist and hers still on his biceps. He was keeping her warm. He wasn’t like the sun, he didn’t burn her or hurt her eyes. She didn’t hate his light. He was just warm, pleasantly so, and bright. She was keeping him cool, not burning or nippy like the night or winter, just cool. “You didn’t hurt me. You hurt yourself.” He pointed out. “Melinda you’re keeping this inside of you and thinking it’s a curse, like your life is over, it’s not!” He said gently. “It’s just starting. You can control it. You keep thinking of all the bad things you can do with this, but think of all the good.” He pointed out. 

She scoffed. “What good?” She challenged looking him in the eyes looking utterly hopeless. He drew his hand from her arms to her cheek. 

“You could bring much needed shade to people working in the sun when they get overheated. You could hide people from danger in the shadows. Who knows what all of your gift could be.” He said gently. “If you let me help you we can train it and you can help people. Our gifts fill a need in the people, ones we may not even know exist. Everyone has what they have for a reason.” He said gently stroking his thumb over her cheek. “Let me help you find yours.” He nearly begged at a whisper. He wanted to make her stay. He wanted to help her. He wanted to keep her with him always.

Melinda leaned into the heated touch and sighed thinking. Her cool hand come to loop over his wrist still not able to bring herself to hold someone’s hand. Especially since he was an Inhuman and she had Inhuman blood on her hands. “I won’t trust anyone but you.” She said firmly. If this was going to work she didn’t want a different guide. She wanted him, only him.

Melinda wasn’t ready to make friends, she’d never really had a friend before. She’d had boyfriends and teammates but she didn’t connect well. She had working relationships: People like Maria and Natasha and Bobbie who she admired and who admired her and they understood each other. She’d always been so quiet though and she’d never found someone to help her bridge the gap and make strong relationship bonds. It made her envy Natasha and Clint all the time, even Bobbie and Hunter, as messy as their relationship was. They always had each other. She thought maybe Phil could be that for her, he made her want to try.

“You won’t have to. The council already assumed I’d be your guide. I’ll help you through it. Especially now that we know I can help you keep control.” He assured “It’ll be you and me.” He assured and she nodded and moved quietly back into his arms and he felt like he could breathe again. She wasn’t leaving now. She was staying and this felt permanent, like he really wouldn’t lose her. “So… Shadows huh?” He asked amused. 

“Yep.” She said simply smirking slightly at the playful tone in his voice.

“So we really are opposites?” He asked smiling at the tone she’d given back to him. This felt comfortable. This was what they had built over the last two weeks.

“I did say that.” She reminded.

“Well yeah but I didn’t think you meant with our gifts too. That would have been so much easier to figure out.” He insisted. “It’s so cool. You’re shadows are amazing!” He gushed. “You know until they try to kill you. But you can  _ teleport  _ with them!” He said like an excited kid.

“Only over short distances.” She explained trying to get him a little less excited. He was going to go overboard with this she could just feel it.

“Well yeah for now! But think of how cool this could be!  You can do so much with that! Think of the pranks alone you could pull!” He said smirking.

That perked Melinda’s attention. “Did you have something in mind?” She asked smirking. With him there, maybe hell wasn’t quite so bad. Not if she had him by her side. Light in the darkness sort of thing.


End file.
